Imagination as Idolatry in Christian Worldview
The concept of imagination as idolatry is rooted in biblical teachings and has been developed throughout Christian history. In the biblical account, idolatry is described as the worship of created objects or images, rather than the Creator [1]. The apostle Paul writes that idolatry originates from men forsaking God and sinking into ignorance and moral corruption (Rom. 1:21-25) [1].
In Christian theology, imagination can become idolatrous when it creates or venerates images that are taken to represent God or divine realities. According to John Calvin, the creation of images to represent God is a form of idolatry, as it attempts to confine the divine to a material form [3]. Calvin argues that the human mind, being embodied, is prone to imagining God in a bodily shape, and that this can lead to a wrong understanding of God's nature [3, 10].
The early Church Fathers also addressed the issue of idolatry and imagination. Athanasius of Alexandria wrote that the human soul, when it forgets God and becomes engrossed in earthly things, can create idols by materializing its thoughts and imaginations [6]. Similarly, Augustine noted that idolatry has been subverted by the name of Christ and the faith of Christians, as predicted by the prophets [7].
In Reformed theology, the danger of imagination becoming idolatry is highlighted in the context of worship and the sacraments. Calvin cautioned against stopping short at the external sign in the sacraments, rather than rising to the spiritual reality they represent [5]. The Tyndale House commentary on Deuteronomy 4:16 notes that idolatry inherently confines God to the artist's imagination, leading to a potential worship of the creature rather than the Creator [9].
The Protestant Reformation emphasized the importance of returning to the simple word of God, rather than relying on human imagination or traditions. Calvin's commentary on Isaiah highlights the inconsistency between representing God through images and the nature of God as infinite and incomparable [8]. The biblical warning against creating images or likenesses of God is seen as a safeguard against idolatry and a call to worship God in spirit and truth.
The historical development of the concept of imagination as idolatry reflects a consistent concern in Christian theology to maintain the purity of worship and the transcendence of God. By recognizing the potential for imagination to become idolatrous, Christian traditions have sought to ground their understanding of God and worship in the biblical text, rather than in human creativity or speculation [2, 4].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Idolatry — Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of idolatry are, (1.) Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc. (2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature. (3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes. In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with ”
- II Corinthians “II Corinthians 10:5 (Geneva1599) — Casting downe the imaginations, and euery high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captiuitie euery thought to the obedience of Christ,”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: God was visibly depicted to their eyes. 9. After such a figment is formed, adoration forthwith ensues: for when once men imagined that they beheld God in images, they also worshipped him as being there. At length their eyes and minds becoming wholly engrossed by them, they began to grow more and 98 more brutish, gazing and wondering as if some divinity were actually before them. It hence appears that men do not fall away to the worship of images until they have imbibed some idea of a grosser description: not that they actually beli”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: of idols. There was a kind of renewal of the world at the deluge, but before many years elapse, men are forging gods at will. There is reason to believe, that in the holy Patriarch’s lifetime his grandchildren were given to idolatry: so that he must with his own eyes, not without the deepest grief, have seen the earth polluted with idols—that earth whose iniquities God had lately purged with so fearful a Judgment. For Joshua testifies ( Josh. 24:2 ), that Torah and Nachor, even before the birth of Abraham, were the worshipers of fa”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 99: lead pious readers to reflect how dangerous it is in matters of such difficulty to wander from the simple word of God to the dreams of our own brain. What has been said above should free us from all scruple in this matter. That the pious soul may duly apprehend Christ in the sacrament, it must rise to heaven. But if the office of the sacrament is to aid the infirmity of the human mind, assisting it in rising upwards, so as to perceive the height of spiritual mysteries, those who stop short at the 2594 external sign stray from the r”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 53: §8. The origin of idolatry is similar. The soul, materialised by forgetting God, and engrossed in earthly things, makes them into gods. The race of men descends into a hopeless depth of delusion and superstition. Now the soul of mankind, not satisfied with the devising of evil, began by degrees to venture upon what is worse still. For having experience of diversities of pleasures, and girt about with oblivion of things divine; being pleased moreover and having in view the passions of the body, and nothing but things present and op”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. XXVI.--OF THE FACT THAT IDOLATRY HAS BEEN SUBVERTED BY THE NAME OF CHRIST, AND BY THE FAITH OF CHRISTIANS ACCORDING TO THE PROPHECIES. (part 1): 40. For truly what is thus effected by Christians is not a thing which belongs only to Christian times, but one which was predicted very long ago. Those very Jews who have remained enemies to the name of Christ, and regarding whose destined perfidy these prophetic writings have not been silent, do themselves possess and peruse the prophet who Says: "O Lord my God, and my refuge in the day of evi”
- CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, Vol. 3, section 8.30: in guarding the Jews against distrust, at the same time condemns the superstitions of the Gentiles, and declares that it is inconsistent with the nature of God to be represented by painting or by any kind of likeness. This shews clearly that Paul’s doctrine fully agrees with it; for the Prophet, after having shewn that the power of God is infinite, since he holds all things in his fist, at length concludes, “To whom then will ye liken me? for no image that is formed will have any likeness or resemblance to me.” Or, what resemblance will you a”
- Deuteronomy (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Deuteronomy 4:16: 4:16 idol: Idolatry inherently confined the Lord to the artist’s imagination. Israel was not to make idols in the form of any of his creatures (4:17-18). Idols and images could lead to worship of the creature rather than the Creator (5:8-9; Rom 1:23-25).”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: they affect weak minds just as if they lived and breathed,” &c. And again, in another passage (in Ps. 112 ) he says, “The effect produced, and in a manner extorted, by the bodily shape, is, that the mind, being itself in a body, imagines that a body which is so like its oven must be similarly affected,” &c. A little farther on he says, “Images are more capable of giving a wrong bent to an unhappy soul, from having mouth, eyes, ears, and feet, than of correcting it, as they neither speak, nor see, nor hear, nor walk.” This undoubted”